Spam
Spam was a competitor robot that fought in Series 6 of Robot Wars. It reached the second round in its only appearance, but lost to the seeded Spawn Again after accidentally driving itself into the pit. Design Spam was an invertible, two-wheeled robot with a cylindrical body, transparent plastic armour, and a unique rotating prong shaped like a tin-opener. The prong was powered by a pair of horizontal flywheels mounted to the robot's top and bottom, which transferred kinetic energy into the prong when they spun, enabling the prong to rotate slowly and function like a drill. While the prong proved ineffective, and the kinetic flywheels vulnerable to damage, Spam had a high top speed of 15mph, and showed excellent durability and a high level of aggression during both of its battles. Etymology Due to Spam being armed with a weapon somewhat resembling a household can opener, the team originally intended to call the robot Can Opener. However, when the similarly named Kan-Opener entered Series 5, the team could no longer use their intended name. Instead, the name Spam was chosen, in reference to the tinned meat product which is typically opened using a can opener. The Team Spam was entered by a Norwich-based team, consisting of three team members, Jon Witte, Pete Birch, and Edward Birch. The team had previous experience in Robot Wars, having entered the Second Wars with Pain, and competed on the live circuit with Judge Mech, which twice attempted to enter Robot Wars. Qualification After entering Series 2 with Pain, and attempting to enter Series 3-4 with Judge Mech, Spam was built for The Fifth Wars. The robot was completed in time to enter the qualifiers, but a 4QD component inside Spam blew while the robot was present at the qualifiers, and ultimately it could not enter the arena for a qualifier battle, withdrawing from the process. Spam was originally intended to enter Series 5, but the team withdrew from the qualifiers after the robot blew one of its 4QDs. Nevertheless, Spam was repaired in time for the Sixth Wars, and successfully qualified after participating in a qualifier battle. Robot History Series 6 Spam fought in Heat H of the Sixth Wars, and was drawn up against Ming 3, The Hassocks Hog and Hot Pants in its first round battle. It drove into Ming 3 but avoided its crusher, before circling round Hot Pants and bumping into The Hassocks Hog, who appeared to have lost drive on one side. Spam nudged the immobilised Hot Pants a few times before slamming into the side of Ming 3, backing away and slamming Hot Pants with its rotating prong. The Hassocks Hog lifted Spam before it was grabbed by the wheel by Ming 3, who pushed Spam near the Flame Pit before both robots separated. Spam pressed the pit release button as Refbot counted Hot Pants out, before being chased and pinned against the wall by Ming 3, who again grabbed hold of Spam and tried to crush its top flywheel. The three surviving robots briefly converged close to Sir Killalot's CPZ, before Spam drove away and was pushed onto the edge of the pit by Ming 3 shortly after Sgt. Bash put Hot Pants in. 'Cease' was called, and the judges ruled that The Hassocks Hog had lost mobility on one side for a sustained portion of the battle, allowing Spam through to the second round alongside Ming 3. In the second round, Spam was drawn up against the tenth seed Spawn Again, with only its bottom flywheel working as the top one had been damaged by Ming 3. Even so, it started much more aggressively, darting round the arena and riding up Spawn Again's wedge a few times as the latter appeared to be having problems firing its flipper. Both robots circled round each other before Spam again drove up Spawn Again's flipper a few more times, only to drive into an angle grinder following a nudge from Spawn Again. Spam backed away and drove into Dead Metal, before again riding up Spawn Again's flipper and ramming it twice more. It aimed for the pit release button, successfully hitting it on its second attempt, before trying to get its prong under Spawn Again's partially-opened flipper, with Spawn Again now barely moving across the arena floor. Spam rammed the side of Spawn Again once more, before backing away for another charge as the latter fired its flipper. However, it missed, driving straight into the pit and eliminating itself from the Sixth Wars despite a dominant performance. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 1 *Losses: 1 Series Record spam 2000 live events.jpg|Spam at an event in 2000 SpamNoSideArmour2001.jpg|Spam without its side armour at a live event in 2001 Trivia *The Judges deciding to put Spam through to the second round in spite of being pitted before The Hassocks Hog could be counted out is sometimes cited as a matter of inconsistency in Robot Wars, as it conflicts with other examples on the show where the fully immobilised machine would not be reinstated by the Judges (such as when Behemoth progressed over Tridentate later into the same series). External Links *Spam website (archived) References Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots from Norfolk Category:Robots with Drills Category:Robots which have driven into the Pit Category:Invertible Robots Category:Robots with an equal amount of Wins and Losses Category:Robots which debuted in Series 6 Category:Robots which only fought in Series 6